You had O.J. Mayo with the Memphis Grizzlies. Did you talk to him about this job at all in the last few days?

“I didn’t talk to O.J about this job at all, to be honest with you. You don’t reach pro guys in the offseason.

“But I got to know O.J. very well last summer. I worked him out a lot last summer in Chicago, where he was living. Spent a lot of time with him. Enjoyed coaching him. To me, he’s a premier player with a premier attitude. The only thing I’ve ever dealt with O.J. on is Memphis Grizzlies basketball.”

Ever talked about his time at USC?

“We would bust each other up about SC and Arizona. ‘We beat you there, they beat us there.’ But the thing that O.J. was always very, very, very adamant about was that it was a great experience, being here. He enjoyed the people that were here. He enjoyed playing for Tim. So I heard nothing but good things about USC from O.J.”

When did you think you were the guy they wanted?

“When did I know? I only knew when I was on the plane coming out here. AD’s in this economy, they’re not flying anybody across the country for an interview unless they’re serious about you.”

When did they contact you?

“I’m not going to get into the details of the process. I’m just going to say the process was straightforward, to the point, and efficient, like you would expect from Mike Garrett.”

With the late start, how do you catch up?

“We’ve started already. I was in the office yesterday afternoon when I got back, from 2 in the afternoon to midnight last night, and back at 5 this morning. So we’ve started, and we’re going to try to get our 2009 roster locked up, and after that try to recruit 2010, 2011, 2012. But we’ve started already and we’re in full swing.”

Would you go after a few of the players who have decommitted?

“I’ve got to take my NCAA test first. I can’t do anything with those guys until I do that. But I’m definitely going to try my hardest to make our roster for 2009 as good as we can.”

Are there players still out there who could help you?

“There’s a few, I’m sure. I met with the staff last night for 2-3 hours talking about recruiting. The thing I don’t want to do is take guys just to take guys. I don’t think that makes sense. I don’t want to put us in a position where we’re tied to guys who can’t help us, to be honest, because we’re going to need better players to compete for Pac-10 championships than guys that are just stragglers at the end. Let’s be honest about it. So I’d rather have less players this year and go ahead and get 2010 and 2011 going.”

When you met with Floyd’s assistants, what ground did you cover?

“I haven’t been at practice or stuff with these guys, and last year I was in the NBA so I didn’t really see (what was here). I think they felt good about our core group. We talked about depth a little bit, the point guard position a little bit, where that’s at. But overall, hopefully these (players) will have enough experience and be in good enough shape that they’ll be able to play the bulk of the minutes and really carry it.

What’s your timetable for deciding on the staff?

“I’m going to fly to Belgrade tomorrow to see Nikola (Vucevic, sophomore forward). I’ll be back on Thursday. I feel good about those guys. I feel good about what they’ve done and what they can do. So sometime this week.”

Why the trip?

“I’m gonna go see all of our (players) at certain points in the next few weeks. I’m doing that with all of them. He’s the only guy I’m not going to be able to see in person here. So I’m gonna go see him.

You have just nine scholarship players.

“If we end up taking somebody else during the summertime, it’s got to be somebody who can be successful here long-term, not just be a plug-the-hole guy, because that doesn’t make sense. And I think it’s really important that you don’t do the old take a guy just to take a guy. I mean, everybody looks good when they sign the letter of intent. They all look good in those press releases. But they gotta play basketball, and we don’t want to bring guys here who can’t play basketball.”

What is there from your coaching in the NBA that transfers to college coaching?

“It’s a totally different game. It’s chess and checkers. Same board, two different games, basically, NBA and college. But there’s so many more decisions that go into an NBA game, coaching wise, than there is in college. And that’s a guy who’s been on both sides saying that.

“I think I’ve become a lot better coach after I’ve been in the NBA. I’m a lot better X and O wise, I think I’m a lot better temperament wise, I think I’m a lot better maturity wise from that experience. And I wouldn’t trade that experience for anything. I really wouldn’t.”

What about your reputation as a “defensive” coach?

“I’ll tell you, I’m a great defensive coach. I mean, I’m good at that. That’s why I get hired a lot of the time. You’ve got to be good at something, right? So I don’t resent that at all. But … what people think is that if you’re a defensive coach you don’t coach offense, or if you’re an offensive coach you don’t value defense. I value the whole game. I value solid basketball. I value the fact of low turnovers and great shots, and I want to score easy baskets.

“If we could ring up 105 points a game here, I’d love that. It means we’re good. But I don’t resent that at all. I’m proud that I’m a good defensive coach. But I also think I’m a very good coach offensively, and can manage a game and all those things. For me, that doesn’t bother me a bit.”

So is it fair to say your team’s style is gonna be pretty similar to that of the guy across town (i.e., Ben Howland at UCLA)?

“Uhhh, you know, I don’t really know. I think it depends on our ability, if we can be that kind of team defensively. I would think we’re going to play a lot like Tim’s teams play. I mean, basically Tim believes in the same things I do, so I think we’ll play a very similar style to what Tim’s teams played.”

Did he encourage you to take this job?

“Tim was great. He had a lot of good things to say about the University of Southern California. He loved his experience here, he loved living here, he loved working for Mike. He wished me the best, wished all the guys the best. It was nothing but positive.

“We had a good talk. We had a typical talk. And I didn’t pry into what he was going to do or what he was thinking, stuff like that.

Do you think your reputation as a disciplinarian works in your favor here?

“I really only have two rules: Be on time, and don’t be a jerk. I don’t have a lot of rules. You have to treat people with respect and all that. The word ‘disciplinarian’ … if you’re going to a $10 million business meeting and you’re 10 minutes late and you lose the meeting, that’s not very good. So I hope that our guys carry their lessons from playing here over into life, so it helps them be successful.

“I don’t want chaos, believe me.”

But it’s been pretty chaotic of late.

“Well, I haven’t been here of late. I don’t want chaos. Nobody wants to deal with chaos. But the bottom line of the whole thing is, I just have a high expectation level and accountability level for guys on and off the court. I feel it’s important to their future.”

Do you feel like you’ve gotten a bad rap?

“I think everybody gets a tag at some point, and tags come and go and this and that. But for the most part, I can only tell people, come watch practice, watch our teams play. I’m not for every player. I’m not. That’s all there is to it. And every coach isn’t for every player. But I have a lot of guys who have played for me… I mean, I’ve been in a multitude of players’ weddings. Pro and college guys don’t invite you to be in their weddings unless they like you a little bit. So I think it’s a little overblown.

“I’ve had incidents with guys, where guys didn’t like me. But I didn’t like some of those guys, either. But that’s kind of the way it is.”

When did you get married to Roberta?

“When did I get married? Three years ago.”

She said when she first met you, you were kind of a jerk.

“Yeah, yeah. I didn’t know her, she didn’t know me. We’d just had a big win over Denver. I kept ordering stuff and they didn’t have it, and I said, what kind of restaurant is this? What restaurant doesn’t have food in it?

“She did send us a bottle of wine. It’s all history from there, right?”

So you said you weren’t her first choice but you got a three-year deal?